Prep Baseball Report

Preseason All-State Central: Trackman Traits Top Arms (Part 1)


Mason McRae
PBR Virginia/DC

 

The expanded usage of data, and the importance of it in regards to player development and player assessment is a legitimate, undeniable tool used by high school, college, and professional teams across the country. Today we break down some of the data from our recent Preseason All-State event in Richmond, VA. See which players stood out in regards to Trackman data. 

Glossary Terms Intro & Links:

Induced Vertical Break: VB or IVB
Vertical Approach Angle: VAA 
Horizontal Break: HB
Release Speed: RS or Velo
Release Height: RH or RelHei

 

Henry Hultquist

Class of 2022 / RHP

Player Information

  • Graduating Class: 2022
  • Primary Position: RHP
    Secondary Position: OF
  • High School: Gonzaga
    State: VA
  • Summer Team: Primetime Aces
  • Height: 6-2
    Weight: 190lbs
  • Bat/Throw: R/R

 

Fastball: Averaged out at 88.5, touching 89.7. Had above average raw spin at 2,381 rpm. Movement wise the pitch was just okay at 15.7 inches vertically, and 7.4 inches horizontally. But he threw from an extremely low release height relative (5.4 feet) to his height (6’2), which also allowed him to get an elite extension (around 7.0 feet). Having the low release plus velo makes up for the dead zone movement (between 14-16 inches vertically) and gives him a flat VAA up in the zone. One of the interesting aspects of the pitch is that he threw it between 12:45 and 1:15, but had a few pitches at 12:00/12:15 with slight cut that brought both his VB/HB averages down and made the pitch look like a gyro heavy (relative to most fastballs) four-seamer when in all actuality it’s a two-seamer. 


Slider: True slurve. Thrown from 8:00 to 9:00, getting both sweep and depth thanks to the 5.8 inches of vertical drop, and -16.3 inches of HB. Ideally he’d throw the pitch a bit harder due to his fastballs higher speed. His best slider on the day came at a 9:00 tilt, getting zero lift, and -18.9 inches of sweep. Which if he did consistently would be an easy plus pitch for his age.




Owen Basso

Class of 2023 / RHP

Player Information

  • Graduating Class: 2023
  • Primary Position: RHP
    Secondary Position: SS
  • High School: St. Albans
    State: VA
  • Summer Team: Stars Baseball
  • Height: 6-0
    Weight: 170lbs
  • Bat/Throw: R/R

 

Fastball: Had the fourth lowest release height of the day at 4.4 feet. Didn’t throw a pitch up in the zone, but if you prorate his flattest VAA for a 3.5 plate location height pitch (top of strike zone), it would’ve been 3.8 degrees; which would be quite good. Average velo was 83.7 with a max of 85.4. Had primarily side spin with some back spin and a primary sinker look on the pitch; had 13.5 inches of VB, and 17.4 inches of HB. Had above average raw spin (2,243 rpm), and somewhat high efficiency.


Slider: Threw a legit sweeping breaker at 8:30 to 9:15 getting heavy sweep at -16.8 inches of HB on average to go with very little depth on the pitch (-0.5 VB). Sat around 69.5 and touched 70.2 on it. Had around average raw spin (2,337 rpm) but optimized the average spin with useful movement.


Changeup: Only one changeup averaged 20 or more inches of HB on the day, that would be Basso’s. The pitch was thrown with a tilt 30 minutes laterally to that of his fastball and actually threw all of his changeups at the exact same tilt. All he’ll need to do is throw the pitches for more strikes, which he didn’t do today. But the movement on the pitch is so good that so long as he starts showing feel for the pitch, he’ll get a ton of whiffs.




Luke Lyman

Class of 2022 / RHP

Player Information

  • Graduating Class: 2022
  • Primary Position: RHP
    Secondary Position: OF
  • High School: Clarke County
    State: VA
  • Summer Team: dirtbags platinum
  • Height: 6-4
    Weight: 200lbs
  • Bat/Throw: R/R

 

Fastball: Threw the hardest pitch all day, a 90.2 mph pitch. Got above average vertical movement at 17.3 inches of VB, and 10.1 inches of HB. Tilts ranged from 12:30 to 1:30, but his two pitches with tilts vertically from 1:00 had 18.5 and 19.5 inches of VB on them. Threw the pitch in the zone 66.7% of the time. Had a high release height of 5.96, which makes his VAA more neutral than flat (around 4.6 degrees up in zone). 


Changeup: Had near equal parts movement wise, with 13.1 inches of HB and 12.3 inches of VB. Threw 1 of the 3 changeups in the zone, and the one thrown for a strike had the lowest HB on the day with a 1:00 tilt. Interestingly enough, his two thrown for a ball had 1:45 and 2:00 tilts, getting 19.8 inches of HB on the 2:00 one. Pitch averaged out at 77.9 with 1,732 rpm.


Curveball: Mix of a slurve and curveball, but closer to a slurve. It had the fourth highest average velo at 73.8 with an average raw spin rate of 2,107. Got 3.9 inches of vertical drop to go with -6.9 inches of HB. The tilts were consistently at 8:00 with a combination of gyro, side, and slight top spin. Because he throws the pitch so hard, it’ll play regardless of the movement though shifting his axis towards 9:00 could turn it into a true slider, which may enable it to play much better even with the low spin rate.